On July 26th, 2024, the Games of the 33rd Olympiad kicked off in Paris, France. Team Canada this year is comprised of 337 athletes. In honor of Team Canada and indeed all the athletes taking part on the Olympics, we here at Classic 100 7will be featuring composer-athletes in the 1p.m. hour all this week on Intermezzo.
Monday, July 29: Charles Ives—Symphony no 1 (1898-1902)
Ives was passionate about competitive sports throughout his life. As captain of his school football teams and pitcher for Hopkins Grammar School, he led his baseball team to a rare victory over the Yale freshmen. At Yale, he played varsity football, and his coach believed he could have been a champion sprinter if not for his musical studies.
As a boy Ives was brought up surrounded by music. His father was a US Army Band leader in the American Civil War. And as a result, he grew up hearing the most popular melodies of the day, both folk inspired and music from the classical canon. Ives would extensively use motives and themes from these well-known tunes in his own compositions. This became a hallmark of Ives’ musical language.
The Symphony no 1 was composed just after Ives graduated from Yale with his music degree, studying under the respected organist and composer Horatio Parker. The symphony is written in a very late-Romantic style, and quotes themes such as Tchaikovsky's Symphony no 6, (Pathetique), Schubert's” Unfinished Symphony", and Dvorak’s Symphony no 9. (From the New World)
Tuesday, July 30: Frederick Septimus Kelley—Violin Sonata -Gallipoli (1915)
Born in Australia, Kelly came to England to study at Eton and Oxford, where he took up rowing. He was highly accomplished as a sculler, setting a record in 1905 that held for 30 years, and he led crews to victory in multiple regattas. His last racing appearance came in the 1908 London Olympic Games, where he won gold as part of the England crew.
When WWI broke out in 1914, Kelley enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve where he was commissioned as an officer. He was wounded twice at the battle of Gallipoli where he earned a Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry.
While on the peninsula he would regularly compose in his down time or while on leave. The Gallipoli sonata was composed in a trench in the last few days of August 1915. The sonata was written for Jelly D`Aranyi, a lovely young Hungarian female violinist in London that Kelly had met in 1909 when she was 16.
Sadly, Lieutenant- Commander Kelley was killed at the Battle of the Somme in November 1916. The Gallipoli Sonata would be performed at his memorial service.
Wednesday, July 31: Joseph-Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George—Violin Concerto in D op.3 no1
Born in the French colony of Guadeloupe, Joseph-Bologne was the son of Georges Bologne de Saint-Georges, a wealthy white plantation owner, and a Creole woman whom Georges had enslaved.
Despite the circumstances of his birth, and attitudes of the time, Joseph-Bologne was given every opportunity to excel by his father. It was unclear when exactly Bologne started playing and studying music. Instead, it was his skills in fencing that gave him acclaim in his young life. Bologne was enrolled in a fencing academy where he excelled at the youthful age of 13.
Bologne was so good that he defeated fencers who were older than him. One of them was Alexandre Picard, a known fencing master who often made fun of Bologne because he was mulatto.
After graduating from the academy, Bologne was given the title of Gentleman of the King’s Chamber and became a chevalier, the French equivalent of knighthood. As he was also allowed to carry his father’s family name, Bologne was formally referred to as Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
Not much is known about Joseph-Bologne's early studies as a violinist but in 1772 he debuted as a soloist with the Parisian orchestra known as The Concert des Amateurs, performing two of his own violin concertos.
Eventually he would be appointed the conductor of the Concert de la Loge Olympique the same orchestra that would premiere Haydn’s Paris Symphonies.
The Violin Concerto in D op. 3 no 1 was written in 1774 and premiered by the composer as soloist leading the Concert des Amateurs.
Thursday, August 1: Gustav Mahler—Symphony no 6, Final Movement (1903-1904)
Mahler loved a good walk to get the creative juices flowing. He was a health enthusiast who was particularly fond of vigorous outdoor exercise. During his summer compositional retreats in the mountains, he would often hike for hours in the mornings, jotting down ideas in a notebook as he went. He also enjoyed climbing, swimming, and cycling. He took inspiration from the sweeping landscapes of Austria, Germany, and Italy for his compositions, In fact, when conductor Bruno Walter visited him at his summer cottage, Mahler reportedly said, “Don’t bother looking at the view—I have already composed it.”
It came as a terrible blow when, upon diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease at age 47, his doctor told him to avoid strenuous exercise. He was miserable without his hikes and struggled to compose. The composer gradually introduced walking back into his routine but paced himself, using a pedometer and constantly checking his pulse. He remained active in his final four years, fulfilling conducting engagements with the Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic and composing three symphonic works (Das Lied von der Erde, Symphony No. 9, and an incomplete tenth symphony).
There is debate as to whether Mahler subtitled the Symphony no. 6 his Tragic Symphony. Mahler’s protege Bruno Walter said in his memoirs that Mahler had used that title, but there is no other hard evidence that Mahler desired this.
What is especially perplexing about the subtitle of the Symphony is that Mahler wrote it in an incredibly happy time in his life. He just married Alma Schindler, and during the composition process and subsequent revisions, Mahler’s second daughter was born.
The Symphony No. 6 was premiered in Essen, Germany and makes use of a huge orchestra including a large percussion section. Mahler took some criticism over the orchestration, but the symphony has outlived the critics and endured in popularity.
Friday, August 2: George Gershwin—Piano Concerto in F (1925)
Geroge Gershwin stayed fit throughout his life. He boxed, swam and played tennis. His daily fitness routine included workouts with a punching bag.
In 1936, George Gershwin moved into a Spanish-style mansion in Hollywood with a swimming pool and a tennis court. Not far away lived 62-year-old Arnold Schoenberg, who had recently moved to America to escape Nazi Germany.
Even though their music is completely different, Gershwin admired Schoenberg. He even considered studying music theory with him, but instead challenged Schoenberg to a friendly game of tennis.
One match became two, two became three, and tennis quickly turned into a weekly ritual for the composers. Schoenberg often brought a small entourage of string players and conductors. Gershwin invited his songwriter friends like Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg.
The Piano Concerto in F was written on a commission from Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony Orchestra. Damrosch had been present at the premiere of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and was so impressed he asked Gershwin to write something for him and the orchestra.
The Piano Concerto in F highlights Gershwin’s evolution as an orchestrator. While Gershwin originally composed Rhapsody in Blue for Paul Whiteman and his big band, with the full orchestral arrangement completed by Ferde Grofé, he took full control of the orchestration for the Piano Concerto in F. This allowed Gershwin to demonstrate his impressive growth and skill in orchestral writing, achieving remarkable results.